Service Delivery Policy

St Giles Society Limited delivers quality and safe services to clients and their families, across Tasmania, with a focus on timely intervention, within our resources across whole of life. In doing so, we are committed to creating opportunities for our clients across our allied health, assistive technology and support services, tailored to their unique needs.

We recognise that client’s and their families are central to St Giles’ core business and believe that respectful communication and interaction with clients and families is integral to effective service delivery, with specific consideration taken to individualised cultural, spiritual and religious beliefs.

Service delivery is driven by St Giles’ NDIS Quality & Safeguards Commission Registration, which provide clear frameworks for the Organisation to comply with. Our policies govern our operational practices and a strong supervision and training program ensures appropriately skilled and competent staff are employed to deliver contemporary evidence informed programs, enhance client experiences and ensures that client goals are met through outcome based approaches.

We value innovation and regularly review our existing services and their effectiveness, assess if there are services gaps and opportunities for improvement to our services. 

In the delivery of services, we will ensure:

• clients personal information is obtained with their consent; remains confidential, and is stored in a manner to retain privacy.  Clients and families are directed to our Privacy & Confidentiality Policy to learn more.
• services occur within a client-centred and family-centred framework.
• clients are supported in understanding their rights and are encouraged to set and achieve goals, through informed decision making that considers any associated risks aligning with out Participant Rights Policy.
• the safety of vulnerable clients through implementation of, and monitoring of practices to minimise the risk of abuse of any kind.
• the provision of a safe and healthy working environment, through compliance with relevant legislation and standards.
• information about our services are accessible by the community and potential service users, through a variety of formats.
• opportunities are sought for collaboration with other services for flexible service delivery to provide best outcomes for clients.
• feedback is sought and welcomed from clients and families as part of our continuous quality improvement process.

Referral for Services

Here at St Giles, we are committed to ensuring that clients and their families experience an uncomplicated referral and intake process that is thorough and transparent, and addresses their individual circumstances, needs and preferences.

Referrals can be completed via our website and can be completed by clients, or completed on their behalf by their nominated representatives and/or family members.

Upon receiving a referral, the information is assessed to determine the scope of services required to meet the identified needs, and whether we are able to assist. If we are not in a position to accept the referral, clients and families will be notified and informed of the reasons why.

We endeavour to respond to and acknowledge referrals within ten business days.

Waitlist Management

All accepted referrals are triaged and prioritised to facilitate timely intervention proportionate to the identified needs outlined within the referral. In some instances, client referrals will be placed on a waitlist.

Waiting times vary based on service demand, clinical resources and clinical indications, and workforce capacity.

We review our waitlists on a regular basis, and endeavour to maintain communication with clients and families as to the status of their referral and provide any immediate advice or resources available, whilst waiting for services to commence.

Client Outcomes

All employees have an obligation to promote positive client outcomes when delivering services and supports. This is achieved through St Giles’ ability to operate within sound corporate, and care governance frameworks that promotes a quality and safe service delivery model.

Our Allied Health service is supported by a dynamic practice administration team, skilled allied health assistants and corporate services, allowing our therapists to focus on their area of speciality. Our therapists are committed to identifying the most appropriate support strategies and therapies, and prescribing equipment utilising evidence-informed practices, whether this be external or internal to St Giles resources when considering the needs of clients. 

Our Assistive Tech service specialises in assessing and supplying assistive technology equipment, delivering a holistic approach towards the provision of equipment. Therapists are committed to sourcing the best possible solutions to meet the identified needs of clients and are not obliged to purchase equipment from within St Giles.

Our Support Services service is underpinned by a robust operational workforce and corporate services, allowing for our skilled support workers to focus on assisting clients and families work towards their and achieve identified goals and maintaining positive health outcomes.

Our workforce are encouraged to remain proactive and considerate of those they are working with and/or supporting, and actively contribute to enhancing client experiences and the continued success of St Giles on-going.

Third Party Attendance by External Parties

Allied Health

We value the importance of seeking input from and collaborating with external parties, such as family members, carers, or other healthcare professionals, in supporting a client’s therapy journey and with an intention of maximising funding and achieving the best possible outcomes, we encourage discretion when inviting external providers or other parties to attend therapy appointments and assessments.

While their input can be valuable, unnecessary attendance can sometimes distract from the purpose of appointments, hindering progress and disrupting the therapeutic relationship. To ensure our clients receive the most effective support, we recommend carefully considering who attends appointments and when. Our experienced clinicians will work closely with clients and families to determine the most beneficial times for external parties to contribute, ensuring their input enhances rather than detracts from your therapy.

By working together, we can optimise assessments and create personalised therapy plans that prioritises the client’s needs and goals, streamline communication, and access funding in an efficient and useful manner. If families have any questions or concerns about third party attendance, please don’t hesitate to discuss them with our experienced clinicians.

St Giles reserves the right to request external parties to leave scheduled therapy appointments and assessments, when they are perceived to be distracting from the purpose of the planned session or are placing our clients, families or our staff members at increased risk.

Support Services

Specific to Support Services, third party attendance by external parties such as family members, carers, other healthcare professionals or service providers can be highly regarded and beneficial in ensuring quality and safe supports are delivered in a timely and effective manner. To ensure this is facilitated appropriately, we will work with clients and families to understand their key relationships and services, and the scope of which we are working together. If clients and/or families have any queries relating to third party attendance, please don’t hesitate to discuss them with a member of our Support Services operational team.

St Giles reserves the right to request external parties to leave scheduled supports and/or meetings when prior notice has not been provided, or in instances where they are perceived to be distracting from the purpose of the supports, or are placing our clients, families or our staff members at increased risk.

High Intensity Supports

Within our scope of services for Support Services, St Giles delivers a range of high intensity supports that

includes, but is not limited to;

• Complex Bowel Care
• Enteral (Nasal-Gastric Tube – Jejunum or Duodenum) Feeding Management
• Severe Dysphagia Management
• Urinary Catheter Management
• Subcutaneous Injections
• Complex Wound Management

Please note that St Giles does not offer services pertaining to tracheostomy or ventilator management, as we currently deem this to fall outside of scope for our support workers.

These high intensity supports are outlined within the NDIS Practice Standards and Quality Indicators that St Giles must adhere to as part of our NDIS Registration.

St Giles will work with clients and their families to ensure appropriate documentation and support plans are in place that outline the support requirements and identifies how risks, incidents and emergencies will be managed, including required actions and escalation to ensure and maintain client health and wellbeing.

This documentation is a key element in ensuring appropriate staff knowledge and skills can be acquired, which in some instances requires individualised staff credentialing for procedures and support tasks that are deemed invasive.

All employees who are to be credentialed in invasive procedures and support tasks are required to hold and maintain their Medication Endorsement Certification which comprises of several nationally recognised training modules and competency assessments. Further to this, support workers must understand the scope in which they are operating and not act outside of these parameters. An exception to this is where an employee holds higher qualifications such as a Registered or Enrolled Nurse, who is engaged with St Giles in that specific role and therefore acting within the scope of their employment.

Continuity of Services

St Giles recognises that clients and families have the right access to timely and appropriate supports and services without interruption, and we address this through managing day-to-day operations in an efficient and effective way to avoid disruption.

Alternative arrangements for the continuity of supports and services with clients and families are delivered in a way that is appropriate to meet the identified needs, preferences and goals and are communicated and agreed to prior either through effective support planning and/or in direct response to a disruption or pre-empted impact.

In addition, our Executive Leadership Team maintains oversight of all activities relating to emergency planning and disaster preparedness activities within our settings. Leaders are equipped and kept informed of all business continuity efforts and risk mitigation strategies implemented to maintain quality and safe service delivery.

Service Cancellation and Refusal

We respect and acknowledges that there are times where services may need to be cancelled and direct clients and families to the St Giles’ Cancellation Policy.

Clients have the right to refuse services offered. Where this is the case, we require the client to notify us if services are to be refused and provide reasoning. Refusal of a service will in no way preclude the client from using services at a later date.

St Giles reserves the right to refuse on-going services and must provide reasoning to the client and all involved stakeholders, within a 24 hour period.

Emergency withdrawal of services may occur if there is;

• substantial risk to the client’s safety and well-being due to the inability of St Giles to meet the clients needs;
  • substantial risk of or an occurrence of serious harm to self and/or others or damage to property; and/or
  • substantial risk of or an occurrence of serious physical assault.

Right to Advocacy Support

Clients have the right to, and are encouraged to access advocacy services, and may choose to be supported by an independent advocate. Brochures detailing how to obtain advocacy services are available.  Staff will assist clients to contact advocacy services as required.

The four Tasmanian advocacy services are:

• Advocacy Tasmania Inc.
• Association for Children with Disability TAS Inc.
• Citizen Advocacy
• Speak Out Association of Tasmania

Service Exit and Re-entry

Where a client chooses to exit the service, they are treated fairly and respectfully, without discrimination. 

• Clients and/or their representatives are fully informed, involved and supported in making the decision to exit the service, and consulted with at all stages of the process to ensure an individualised transition.
• Clients may choose to re-enter the service at any time through completing a new Referral Form as part of the Organisation’s Intake process.  We will consider and accept the referral based on the ability to meet the service needs of the client, which includes but is not limited to the type of services/support requested and current capacity of St Giles.
• We do not discriminate on the basis of gender, sexuality, ethnic origin, religion, political beliefs, disability or age.

Contact Us
Please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team to discuss your service delivery and/or the services we offer;
St Giles Society Limited Post Office 416, Launceston TAS 7250
Phone: 1300 278 445
Email: feedback@stgiles.org.au

Version 12 3 December 2024